Follow the money

The ninth novel in Ridley Pearson's series featuring Seattle police detective Lou Boldt cleverly combines a high-tech crime with one of the oldest plot twists in the mystery genre: the stolen object hidden in plain sight device first used in Poe's "The Purloined Letter." In fact, the title of the novel, The Body of David Hayes, is itself something of an exercise in misdirection. David Hayes...

ome books scream blockbuster movie, and Ridley Pearson's latest is just such a screamer. The author of 17 novels may not be as the jacket copy claims "the best thriller writer on the planet," but if he isn't, he's got whoever is in first place looking over his shoulder. In Parallel Lies, Pearson uses a classic hunter/hunted plot. The hunter is Peter Tyler, a disgraced former homicide cop...

To police investigators, the significance of a criminal's first victim is clear: The first victim is generally the one that is handled carelessly. It's only later the criminal mind thinks to start making better preparations, thinks to plan more carefully. When the crime being investigated involves the death and possible murder of illegal immigrants, that sloppy criminal mentality may be the...